IGLTAAn intimate IGLTA networking event on 22 August, which was hosted by the Hyatt Palm Springs and gold-level global partner Hyatt, raised more than $1,000 for the IGLTA Foundation and included a visit from the Mayor of Palm Springs, Robert Moon. A special thank you to our members GayDesertGuide.com and Pink Banana Media for their support in promoting this event. Funds help to support the development of future leaders in LGBT tourism as well as education and global research to further understanding of LGBT travel.READ MORE

IGLTAPlease join us in supporting the small business members of our association, who are dedicated to providing LGBT-welcoming experiences around the globe. Leka Hotels offers boutique-style with elegant custom-designed furnishings on Turkey's Bodrum Peninsula; Ocean Encounters coordinates scuba and snorkeling adventures on the beautiful Caribbean reefs of Curacao.READ MORE

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Rivendell Media RIVENDELL MEDIA is the sales staff for more than 200 LGBT newspapers, magazines & entertainment guides & when you call us you are dealing directly with the publication. Rivendell Media will help you plan & execute media campaigns not only by region, city or budget but also by ethnicity, m/f readership, age & other critical indicators.

USA TodayA federal judge in Texas has sided with school districts opposing the Obama administration's directive on transgender bathrooms, temporarily blocking the directive just before on the first day of school in Texas.
The ruling prevents the U.S. Department of Education from implementing guidance that required school districts to allow transgender students to choose which restroom and locker facilities to use.READ MORE

Pink News Same-sex couples will now be able to marry officially in the British Antarctic Territory.
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) has announced plans to launch a consultation in order to review same-sex marriage legislation in the British Antarctic Territory (BAT). Although same-sex marriage became legal in the BAT at the same time as the law was changed in England and Wales, the FCO say the aim of the review is to ensure the legislation is up to date and in line with U.K. law.READ MORE

BloombergAustralia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will reverse a promise to hold a vote on same-sex marriage this year and delay the plebiscite to 2017, Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported, without saying where it got the information. The plebiscite — a vote that is non-binding, as opposed to a referendum — will be held in February next year, the newspaper reported. READ MORE

International Business Times Nigerian police are looking for two people accused of having organized a gay marriage in the city of Sokoto, capital of Sokoto state. The owner of the house where the alleged ceremony occurred has already been arrested, a police spokesman told the BBC. Homosexuality is illegal in Nigeria. Nigerians involved in gay marriage or civil unions face imprisonment for up to 14 years under the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill signed into law by former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan in 2014.READ MORE

BBC News Scores of Turks have taken part in a peaceful protest in central Istanbul calling for justice over the murder of a transgender woman, Hande Kader.
They held signs and chanted slogans for Kader, 23, an LGBT activist, whose burned body was discovered in a forest after she went missing.
According to one report, opposition MPs were among those who attended the rare protest by LGBT activists. READ MORE

The New York Times Osento, a Japanese bathhouse on Valencia Street in San Francisco, is long gone, closed now for nearly a decade. I could have used a soak, though: It was an uncommonly hot and muggy day in the city, and I’d been walking its streets for hours.
Back in the day, people looking for Osento on a similarly soupy afternoon were probably just as confounded.READ MORE

The Jakarta Post The hysteria surrounding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues in Indonesia continues. The newest development is a petition taken to the Constitutional Court by the anti-LGBT group Love Family Alliance, which seeks to criminalize consensual sex between people of the same gender — and between unmarried people — through an amendment of the Criminal Code (KUHP). The petition requests the amendment of articles 284 (adultery), 285 (rape) and 292 (sex between adults and minors of the same gender). READ MORE

Christian Today Southern African churches may begin blessing same-sex unions after the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA) announced it would consider the move in its upcoming synod next month. The motion, proposed by the Diocese of Saldanha Bay, rules out permitting same-sex marriages but says "prayers of blessing" should be offered to those in gay unions. And although it calls for clergy to be "especially prepared for a ministry of pastoral care for those identifying as LGBTI" it also makes clear that "any cleric unwilling to engage in such envisioned pastoral care shall not be obliged to do so."READ MORE

Metro Weekly"[The NBA has] sent a clear message to lawmakers in North Carolina and across the country that discrimination against LGBTQ people has consequences and will not be tolerated."
–Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin, in a statement responding to a report that the National Basketball Association is moving the 2017 All-Star Game to New Orleans, which has an explicit LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinance.READ MORE

PRI The Old Lady of Tryon Street — officially known as The Queen's Head — confirmed the rumor on its Facebook page. "We're bloody gutted," the post reads.
The bar itself is almost two centuries old. Freddy Sipson, who has managed The Queen's Head for seven years, says it's been known as a gay bar since about the 1920s.READ MORE